Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won two of the three Assembly bypolls it contested on July 19. In the results announced on Monday, AAP won Ludhuiana West seat of Punjab and Visavadar seat of Gujarat.
In Ludhiana West, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora defeated his nearest rival and Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu by 10,676 votes after the 14th. Arora’s win in the assembly election leaves a Rajya Sabha seat vacant. And thus the question doing the rounds in AAP political circles would be who will the party sent to the Upper House of Parliament to replace Arora.
Will it be party chief Arvind Kejriwal, his foremr deputy CM Manish Sisodia, or a leader from Punjab?
Kejriwal was asked this question during a press conference that he addressed after bypoll results on Monday. And here is what the former Delhi CM said:”Kejriwal nahin ja raha (Kejriwal is not going to the Rajya Sabha) though you (the media) have sent me there several times already.”
Buzz over Kejriwal entering Parliament
Last time specualtion about three time former CM Kejriwal’s Rajya Sabha bid were sparked in February when AAP fielded Arora from Ludhiana West seat. This seat fell vacant last month after the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi in an accidental firing while cleaning his pistol.
The AAP had then denied the reports. “Arvind Kejriwal is not going to Rajya Sabha…As far as Arvind Kejriwal is concerned, media sources were earlier saying that he will become the Chief Minister of Punjab. Now, media sources are saying that he will contest from Rajya Sabha. Both these sources are absolutely wrong. Arvind Kejriwal is the national convenor of AAP. I agree that his demand is very high, but he is not limited to any one seat,” AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar told news agency ANI.
Arora, a businessman, was elected to theRajya Sabhain 2022 from Punjab. His tenure is set to end in 2028. Now that he will be an MLA, Arora will have to resign from the Parliament leaving the seat vacant.
Kejriwal nahin ja raha (Kejriwal is not going to the Rajya Sabha) though you (the media) have sent me there several times already.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the February 5 assembly election in Delhi bagging 48 seats. The AAP, which won the last two elections, won just 22 seats. The defeat meant AAP is only in power in Punjab. Kejriwal is not member of any house as of now after his recent defeat in Delhi Assembly Election.
Remember Kejriwal had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election against Narendra Modi from Varanasi in 2014. The AAP has 11 Rajya Sabha members, including Arora, presently. It has one Lok Sabha member too.
